Clandestine
by drunken.anecdotes
Summary: Immortality - a fate worse than death' - Edgar A. Shoaff On Hiatus. Will most likely be re-written, though I like how the first chapter is. Don't have a plot for it yet.
1. Epigraph

'In our memories, the reality we believe we've experience is inevitably mixed with illusion. Whether real or imagined, it is only in retrospect that we can ever comprehend the meaning of our recollection. 

Had he really seen it? Or had he merely convinced himself that he had as he sifted back through his memories? For a long time, these questions plagued him.

The imaged, offset by a spray of blood and an animal stench, was simply that of a young girl's white face illuminated in the obscurity, her large eyes peering at him. Eyes like blue flames flickering in the shadows.

It wasn't until much later that he realized those eyes had been the eyes of a beast.'

- Mamoru Oshii (Blood, The Last Vampire: Night of the Beasts)

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'I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I have not lived'

- Henry David Thoreau

* * *

'On a large enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero'

- Chuck Palahnuik (Fight Club)

* * *

'Whatever is done for love always occurs beyond good and evil'

- Friedrich Nietzsche

* * *

'Some people think it's holding on that makes one strong - sometimes it's letting go'

- Unknown

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'Death is not the greatest of evils; it is worse to want to die, and not be able to'

- Sophocles

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'Death does not concern us, becuase as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we not longer exist'

-Epicurus

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'One has to pay dearly for immortality; one has to die several times while one is still alive'

- Friedrich Nietzsche

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**Writer's Post-Script: **This is just something to keep in mind when I post the first chapter. I'm almost done writing it, and typing it. I'm still continuing A.O.U, but I met a major writors block when writing the chapters, and they didn't really make much sense when I read them over, so I have to re-edit those as well when I find them. Yes, find them. I lost all my fanfics!!! I have to find them soon 'cause I finished writing one of my favorite songfics so far, and I have motivation and inspiration seeping from my ears, and I have to post them and write more! I love writing, and to have my "art" gone tears at me from within! And yes, I know I'm very over-dramatic at times, but I'm in a fanfic writer crisis right now!!! Anyways, hope you guys are interested!


	2. Prologue: He Saw Without Seeing

**Writer's Pre-Script**: I know that I have a responsibility to complete A.O.U, but I lost my 5 subject notebook that contains all my fan fiction in it, and until then I can't update... I've been looking everywhere, and I still can't find it, but I can't give up hope! Meanwhile, I've been bombarded with plot bunnies, and potential plots and all that, so I decided to write it out, and it turned into this. I have conviction that I will finish this series which is going to be pretty much a novel length fan fiction if anything. I hope you guys like it, and yes I know, more vampires, but who doesn't love a good vampire/HP series? Hmm? Yeah, I like them too, and I wrote it while I was reading 'Eclipse' by Stephanie Meyer, and it totally inspired me to write out the infectious plots that were forming in my mind.

**Permanent Disclaimer**: I have never, nor will I ever own the Harry Potter Universe, because I am not J.K. Rowling, but I really wish I was! And the vampires in this story are based on the Stephanie Meyer's version of vampirism, not Anne Rice's. The characters might seem similar to Meyer's, and there not, but were influenced as such. This might turn into an Hp/Twilight series, but certainly NOT now. It's only a thought. Tell me if you want me to though; I'm still very indecisive. Never the less, I don't own anything associated with Stephanie Meyer's Twilight saga, nor do I own anything associated with J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.

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Chapter 1:

He Saw Without Seeing/It Began Where It Ended... _Twilight_

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_**"The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration". --Pearl S. Buck**_

* * *

Everything was still as twilight occurred. The sun had not yet completely set nor had the night fully awakened, letting the sky remain in a colorful limbo of light blue transcending into pink then orange but not yet to that dark shade of blue. It was as if time itself had stopped to admire the transition.

Then there was a scream, and time started once more. **HELP! HELP! SOMEONE HELP** **ME!** Followed the shriek soon afterwards. **PLEASE!! SOMEONE! ANYONE GET HELP! SHE'S HURT!!**

Scurries of feet could be heard as the only person within a ten mile radius ran off, assuming that everything would be just fine, and that help would be on the way. A teenage girl at the mere age of 17 laid on the ground, slowly bleeding to death on the white snow of the forgotten woods. Despite being an inch close from death, even she knew the poor, shocked hiker wouldn't come in time to save her. And despite the pain in her abdomen and shoulders, and the cold seeping in through every crevice, it was okay. The discomfort had slowly but surely started to fade, and the lumpy ground didn't feel so bad against her wounds anymore.

Regardless of whether it was Death finally overcoming her senses or just shock beginning to take effect, she welcomed it. As long as she able to see the final transitions of twilight in the sky that watched over her then before she left, she would be fine.

A shadow appeared, looking over the girl's head and neck. The girl knew it wasn't the hiker returning so soon, and knew that it couldn't have been an animal that was drawn by her blood. Both would have made a noise to indicate their presence. This person or thing just appeared out of thin air and was as quiet. Lowering it's shadows to just her head, it suddenly spoke.

"Don't give in. Not yet."

Too tired to look away from the twilight sky or even to speak for that matter, she sighed. _'Why?_', she thought. She knew there was no way for it to know what she replied in her mind, but still she replied, _'I'm so tired, and it is so easy. Why not_?_'_

As if he had read her thoughts completely, he responded, "because you have too much to live for."

Completely forgetting the logistics of how their conversation was possible, she spoke once more in her mind ._'You do_ _not know what awaits me if I do hold on and eventually convalesce. Letting go is co much more freeing... '_ All too soon it became difficult for the girl to breathe.

She felt her eyes dropping and her breathing becoming lighter despite her attempts to hold on. Albeit she did not care too much on surviving, she could no longer see the sky which worried her. The being that overshadowed her then stared directly into her face. She slowly blinked to adjust her blurred vision to look at what blocked her view.

A boy of about her age with black eyes and mixed blond and brown hair stared into her eyes. It was as if the boy put her under hypnosis. She couldn't look away, even if she wanted to. The boy then suddenly averted his gaze to the two gaping wounds on each of her shoulders and the one on her abdomen. For a split second there, she thought he looked like an angel with the setting sky as his background, here to guide her when she ascends.

Her breathing was becoming shallow and a fit of coughs soon followed. The taste of blood becoming more prominent than before. She knew it wouldn't be long until...

"Don't give up. Please", he begged with urgency in his voice. He was looking into her eyes once more. She couldn't speak, and her mind was growing hazy. He looked truly concerned for her welfare though, that much she could tell as her vision started to fade in and out. The girl was trying not to give in, if only for him, but it was too hard.

She felt her heart rate decreasing with each labored breath. She couldn't hold on much longer. Through the haziness oh her mind, she though to him, _'I'm so sorry'_, and let go.

The girl stopped breathing as the boy with the heavy heart started to panic. He pulled away from looking into her eyes and sat down where he knelt adjacent to her head. The girl once again had a clear view of the night. As her vision faded into darkness so did the sky as the last traces of twilight disappeared into nothing but the dark blue expansion above. She finally felt at peace.

The boy struggled to make a decision. He knew the hiker would not come in time to save her. He had smelled her blood a mile away when he went hunting in the forgotten woods, and knew even then that by the time he would get to her she would almost be gone. And it would have been to his benefit had it not been her who was wounded. He did not know why he couldn't finish her off, he just couldn't.

Her thoughts had flooded his mind at the time and it amazed him that even in the moments leading to her death, all she could think of was twilight and freedom. For that he was immediately fond of her, as most in her position would have been praying to their gods for forgiveness or begging to live just a little longer. Not her though; her desire was to see the sky transcend into twilight and then into night. That was all. She didn't even care what happened to her afterwards, but he did, for some odd reason.

He saw without seeing what the girl had lived through by the suppressed memories of her mind as he had looked at her from where he knelt. No person should have gone through what she had. It was a miracle she ran this far with her injuries, and has gotten away from her attacker before she collapsed in the position she was in then. He had told her not to give in yet, and she inquired as to why in her thoughts. He knew she was too weak to say it aloud, so responded by saying that she had too much to live for, which was true.

She responded that he did not know what awaited her if she held on and healed; that letting go was freeing. Had he not taken an interest in her, he would have done it himself, but oddly he did. The girl was still bleeding profusely and her breathing was gradually slowing. She didn't have much time left. He had to do something but the only two options he had involved death either way.

Hesitantly, he looked into her eyes. All at once her thoughts entered his mind. She thought he looked like an angel. _'How inexplicable'_ he thought amusingly with a slight grin.

A heavy feeling entered his static heart. She started to cough up more blood and at that point she only had minutes. He had to buy more time, so he begged her not to give up. There had to another way, but he knew deep down there wasn't. He knew she was trying but it was a losing battle.

The boy could not look into her eyes any longer and knelt back, letting her see the sky. 'I'm so sorry', the girl thought suddenly and then she stopped breathing. He could still hear her heart beating but it was steadily declining. He had to act now or he would lose his stranger forever. He didn't want that to happen.

To sustain her he would need to giver her some of his blood, then after she's awake he could give her the choice as to whether or not she would want to be fully like him; like a vampire. He would give her the choice he never had. But first he had to get her to wake up.

Quickly he opened her mouth and extending his thumbnail, he sliced pen his right wrist, letting his blood pour into her mouth all the while monitoring her practically nonexistent heartbeat. Massaging her throat, he made sure she truly drank his blood. When he felt it was enough his wound immediately healed, and he carefully surveyed the girl for any reactions. He had never done what he did just then and was both curious and frightened if it would work. He had heard of it being done, but they were only tales

The boys could still hear her hear beat, which was a positive sign. If he had stalled any longer the girl's heart would have stopped on the spot. But it hadn't. At its low rate, it still beat.

All of a sudden the girl gasped, taking in a deeply needed breath. Panting, she realized her vision was back as well as her hearing. Why was she back? Had she not died? And why was the essence of blood still on her tongue?

She felt dreadful, but surprisingly the pain had ceased. Did she die? She looked around and instantly spotted the boy tentatively inspecting her. Why was he still here? Did he save her? Why?

The boy then looked into her eyes and answered her curious inquisition. "No you're not dead. Yes, I did save you. Why? I don't entirely know myself."

Finding her own voice, she verbally asked, "how did you know I asked? How did you hear my thoughts before?... How did you save me?" The girl was distraught with unanswered questions as she attempted to sit up. She was feeling the cold from the snow underneath her, and was losing feeling in her back and arms.

Undoubtedly she was immensely sour where the gunshot wounds once were, but to her amazement, she was alright. The gaping holes were closed without even a scar, as she checked both her shoulders and her abdomen. Although she was extremely lightheaded from the loss of blood, she attempted to stand, but was unsuccessful, resulting in the boy catching her before she fell.

"Careful now", he instructed as he sat her down on a nearby tree stump. "You're still very weak."

"Obviously", the girl commented with a slight laugh. Her jaded smile remained on her face as she once again examined her savior's features. He was slightly smiling in response. She still saw him as an angel.

Neither knew how much time had passed, both boy and girl just basking in each others presence, before the girl spoke, breaking the undisturbed silence.

"...What do I do now?"

"It's really up to you... Do you want to stay? Here, I mean. Or do you want to leave, for good?"

The girl have him an inquisitive yet melancholy look, then stared off into the opposite direction, not wanting him to see her begin to tear. Simply with a shrug, she said, "I want to be free", as a single tear escaped her eye. She hastily wiped it away and turned back to the boy and smiled.

The boy still could not explain these strange feelings he felt towards the girl. It was as if he had a connection with her even before he knew her; like a bond. It intimidated him to sat the least, but he wasn't going to give it up. He wasn't going to give her up. Not yet.

All the girl wanted was to be free. She knew her options: if she stayed, she would surely die. She, of course, would not return home and reenact the same situation all over again; of being accused of witchcraft once more, especially now what with her wounds healed to perfection. But if she left with him, she would have a new start; a new beginning. Never again would she be the ostracized child of two unworthy adults.

Never again would the girl be push or pulled for being able to perform feats that seemed impossible to the villagers but simple to her. Never again would she be tormented and tortured and run out of her own home by her own people for being slightly more gifted than them. She knew what she was, and never had she denied nor openly agreed with everyone's accusations, but simply had kept to herself. Never had she harmed anyone, as they blatantly charged her of doing.

She needed this new start, and wasn't going to pass up the only opportunity she was going to receive in her lifetime. Moreover, the boy-savior that rescued her in her desperate time of need was asking for a chance at companionship. How could she say no that? When everyone else chased her away, leaving her to die, he went to her and begged her to stay just a little bit longer. He was her angel.

And so, making up her mind, she slowly nodded agreeing with herself that it was the right thing to do, and said, "I want to leave... with you." The boy smiled in response. Albeit he could hear everything that went on her head, to hear her speak it and confirm it made his smile grow and last. His stranger was going to stay. With him.

The boy extended his hand towards the girl and said, "I don't believe we've even properly introduced ourselves. My name is Thaddeus Craven, but I prefer to be called Talon."

Shaking his hand, the girl asked, "Why Talon?", to which he replied, "you'll see", with a slight but kind smirk.

"Ah. I see", she said. "Well, my name is Loren Healey, but I would prefer to be called Token."

"Why Token?" asked Talon with a playful smirk, to which Token replied, "you'll see", with the same playful expression.

**...**

By the time the hiker returned with aide for the dying girl in the forgotten woods, all there was left was her body imprints; blood coating the entire inside that soaked through to the grass and mud underneath. Connected to the main depression in the snow were footprints leading to the nearby tree stump, and from there nothing else. No other footprints or even slight depressions in the otherwise undisturbed snow. She simply disappeared. To the hiker, the only way out without disturbing the snow was going the same route he had, taking precisely the same steps he had taken before!

To the hiker, the only way the girl could have left in such a manner would be if she had _flown_ out of the forgotten woods. But to the hiker, that was simply impossible...


End file.
